Best insurance deals?

I was wondering if anyone has any insurance companies they would recommend?

I've insured Mabel but not sure if it's very cheap.

As she's a second car I can't use my no-claims.

Also, what counts as a modification, and how much do they affect the price?

Thanks.

I use MiniWorlds as they are more understanding re mods etc (mods are anything that weren't on the car when it left the factory, alloy wheels, different seats etc) however, I can use my full no-claims entitlement as its the only insurance I have. I have no maximum number of miles, salvage rights and can use it for track days organised by Miniworld plus for £15 you can get a agreed valuation incase its ever written off.

The folowing may lower your premium - limiting the number of miles per annum, taking out a classic car policy, see if your present insurer does a discount for 2nd cars or even trying the female only ones.

Good luck - sometimes its worth ringing round a few, I tried that insurance comparison website once - all the quotes were more than I was already paying.        

i use adrian flux, they seem pretty cheap.

as for modifications, things like alloy wheels, different exhausts etc can affect premiums, although generally not by much compared to major engine modifications

Miniworlds? Is that the name of a company?

Or do you mean the magazine?

Thanks.

mini world magazine have their own insurance company. from what ive heard they are meant to be pretty good and helpful

Quoted from redhotmini

i use adrian flux, they seem pretty cheap.

as for modifications, things like alloy wheels, different exhausts etc can affect premiums, although generally not by much compared to major engine modifications

I didn't know Adrian Flux did traders policys.

i used adrian flux to insure bazzers bini for the grand tour - once i explained what it was for they let me have it for one month rather than a year.

We tried classic policies but our '96 car was way too new for them.

Got a quote from Adrian Flux a few years back but they seemed more interested in selling a finance deal to pay for the policy than the policy itself.

We've been with MiniWorld (the magazine) Insurance, which is operated by HIC, for a few years. As Amanda says they are happy with non-standard cars, do agreed value for a small fee (which we wanted) and track day cover (which we didn't) and their policies often seem to end up cheaper than the "normal" insurance companies.

https://www.hertsinsurance.com/

I'm with Graham Sykes, have been for 3 years now. Left Adrian Flux when they decided to double my premium without justification and told me to go elsewhere.

When I left Adrian Flux I shopped about and did take a policy out over the phone with HIC, but cancelled it when the policy documents came through. The terms and conditions for the policy hadn't even been run through a spellchecker and half of them were geared to making more money out of you: £25 admin fee was chargeable if they changed the details on the policy due to their error, and stuff like that.

Thankfully I've never had to claim so I don't know what Sykes' claim service is like, but considering my premium didn't go up for adding adjustable suspension all round, or cutting the front off and putting on a removable carbon fibre one, I'm happy enough with the prices.

I was naughty and didn't declare mods     two companies to avoid are dial direct (£50 charge for ending policy early and hour on hold on their 'helpline') and budget (can't understand the people on their phone lines   ). Churchill and Lancaster are good . Also like graciesmum said limited mileage can bring the cost down-but not if u keep driving her to work everyday lol  

I know that when we did the 1st engine change for Stanley from a 998cc to the 1290 with swiftcam and other go faster race engine bits - the premium with for Stanley didn't increase !!  When it was up for renewal I changed the engine to the 1275 we ended up with but made the mistake of saying I no longer worked and suddenly the premium doubled, which I don't understand as it meant I was using it during rush hour and commuting but they claim that insurers give a discount depending on your job.

Florence is insured with Performance Direct. They seemed to know what they were on about and didn't try and rip us off when we added stage 1 kit, alloys etc. The 1st year we were with the AA and the premium went up by £200 when we wanted to add these bits

I tried some others to compare quotes but they have problems as we have changed the engine and can't seem to cope with the fact it was a 998cc originally (they keep telling me it was a 1100, auto), one told me that they didn't make them in 1981 production ceased in 1980 for the clubby estate and another couldn't find the make and model on the system - so I gave up.

  

YOu want to try explaing mine then it confuses them I always ring round the first quiestion I ask is do you do agreed value thry say yes so I go through all the questions I tell them the value of the car and they go very quite and then say we can not do that!!! so I tend to ring one other company but stay with Miniworld Insurance as they are reasonable and I get al the little bits like salavage rights track day cover etc!!

im with performance direct i think they are same as mini world insurance (which is advertised in back of mag)
as i rang them both for quotes and the bloke goes "i already spoke to you earlier sir!"
but yeh they seemed pretty good didnt really mind my extra mods, and as said do savage rights and agreed valuation

Quoted from GraciesMum

they claim that insurers give a discount depending on your job.

Some charge an extra premium depending on your job. Journalists/broadcasters are the most expensive (as Top Gear showed with the less than 10k super car challenge) but us bods in IT can quite often get stung  

Quoted from siddarz

Some charge an extra premium depending on your job. Journalists/broadcasters are the most expensive

Can you be surprised when idiots like Clarkson get caught doing 82mph in a 50mph zone?

The law proves itself to be a total ass that he couldn't be convicted.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6982514.stm

Quoted from siddarz

us bods in IT can quite often get stung  

Must admit I hadn't realised that. Maybe it's because I'm a fair bit older than the proverbial 25.

In that case BMW car sales men should pay a massive premium - they drive like complete idiots 99% of the time.

iM WITH MINIworld am happy with them, got my inssurance from a nice guy at one of the shows, they did do a recomendation thingy so we got some money off the price, i was happy with the cost - not sure off hand, but i wanted bertie to be with someone who would appreciate him as a mini and not another car, we also found they were happy with mods especially with being under 25, if your making changes to your mini and update the policy its £25.00 to update so i suggest if you will make changes you do it at a simular time and pay for it all then... and yes the aggreed value is fab, a little extra but well worth the peace of mind

urm... yes bertie is happy with miniworld

Quoted from LazyBones

Can you be surprised when idiots like Clarkson get caught doing 82mph in a 50mph zone?

He wasn't caught, the car was - the prosecution offered no evidence he was actually driving at the time - although, without meaning to sound libelous, we can guess he probably was.

Besides, at last count, our wonderful Minister of Road Safety was 9-0 ahead of Clarkson on points  

Quoted from LazyBones

The law proves itself to be a total ass that he couldn't be convicted.

You can't convict if there's no evidence... else we'd all have been locked up for something by now, just so the police could meet their targets

Surely though Alfa (as the owner) told the prosecution that Clarkson was driving as the had 'loaned him' the car.  Therefore, he would have had to prove that he wasn't driving the car.

The same would apply therefore to any vehicle on hire or loan.  The garage I used to work for used to get speeding tickets for its loan cars and they would complete the details as the person who was 'loaned' the car and they would get the conviction.

If it was loaned to a company then the company must provide details of the driver and therefore the BBC would be preverting the course of justice.  

Thank you Amanda. At least I'm not the only one with that view.

What I was trying to say was that the law is an ass as it was seemingly unable to convict anybody. Siddarz has said there was no evidence of an offence. A speed camera was triggered at 64% over the speed limt. What more evidence do we need?

I think the fact that Clarkson used the same defence lawyer who has helped a long list of celebs escape conviction from motoring offences says quite a lot. And regarding the comment on points awarded to government ministers Gordon Brown has replaced the (Lady)man in question.

I was broadly agreeing with you  

Quoted from LazyBones

Siddarz has said there was no evidence of an offence

I said "the prosecution offered no evidence he was actually driving at the time", which was indeed factually incorrect. It would appear that Alfa did exactly what Amanda's ex-employers did, and it was after that everything went wrong.

The BBC report said that the charge of "failing to name the driver on a speeding ticket" was dropped after "the prosecution offered no evidence in relation to the case". It appears he wasn't charged with the speeding offence itself.

If the prosecution offered no evidence then it's the muppet at the CPS who put the case together who is the ass, not the law. It's true his lawyer has worked wonders for lots of other celebs in the past, but from the sounds of it he didn't need any help in this case  

As for Ladyman, I concede - guess my current affairs knowledge has slipped  

Anyway, back to insurance - did anyone notice their premiums barely changed (if at all) when they reached the magic ages of 21/25/30?

I've reached the magic age of 60 and still my insurance went up this year!  Changed from Egg to M&S and saved myself over £100

I've used Lancaster for about 6 years, I have the same problem that my no claims are on another car, they give me a good driver discount which amounts to the same thing as having the no claims on there.

The main problem I had with main steam insurers was they claimed Penfold didn't exist (being a RSP).

They were also good when I have to insure more than one mini with them or need to change between them. They also do the european breakdown cover which is great for me as I have been all over the place in Penfold but I think they are due to with draw that soon.

Re the classic car status the general rule seems to be 15 years regardless of car.

I am now with Lancaster,( a broker)only trouble is a few days after i took out the policy i searched the site again and got a quote for £135 instead of the £178 odd I'd paid.

For some reason it brought up a different company, same excess etc. Only difference was i wouldn't be covered for driving other cars.

I rang them and explained that I didn't need that as i am already covered for that on my other insurance.
They wouldn't change it, i would have to cancel in writing and would lose £20 which was the set-up fee they charge.

So if you are looking, make sure you don't get caught out like I did! I thought there was a 14 day cooling-off period- well there is, but it doesn't include any set up fees.